Russia rains missiles on Ukraine to ruin New Year celebrations

Waves of Russian missiles have hit cities across Ukraine, according to officials who said the attacks have also caused the death of one Ukrainian, while damaging several buildings across the country.

Mayor of Kyiv, the capital city, Vitaly Klitschko confirmed via his social media pages that ‘there had been several blasts in the capital, causing at least one death.’ A hotel has also been damaged.

The attacks happened two days after Russia carried out one of the largest air strikes since the start of the war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned Russia could launch more attacks to make Ukrainians ‘celebrate the New Year in darkness.’

Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy sector in the past few months, destroying ‘power stations’ and plunging millions into darkness during the country’s freezing winter.

Several senior Ukrainian officials have alluded to the strikes in social media posts, saying that Russia would not succeed in ruining their celebrations.

“The occupiers have decided to try to spoil the day for us,” Mykolaiv Governor Vitaly Kim said on Facebook.

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhny, said air defences had shot down 12 of 20 Russian cruise missiles.

In Kyiv, people rushed to shelters as air raid sirens sounded.

Emergency workers were sent to several districts hit by explosions.

Some 20 people were injured in Kyiv, including a Japanese journalist, Mr Klitschko said.

Deputy presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram that a hotel had been damaged.

Air defence has been activated in regions across the country.

In the western city of Khmelnytskyi, a drone attack injured two people, Mr Tymoshenko added.

The attacks came as Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to rally people behind Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, saying the country’s future was at stake.

In his New Year address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Russians that President Vladimir Putin was hiding behind his troops and destroying their country.

Zelensky said this after Putin delivered a New Year address flanked by people in military uniform. Already, Saturday witnessed deadly strikes across Ukraine, and Zelensky said Ukrainians would not forgive Russia. The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhny, said air defences had shot down 12 of 20 Russian cruise missiles on that Saturday.

At least one person died and dozens were injured in the attacks. There were further missile strikes on Kyiv just hours into the new year on Sunday, officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Saturday attacks happened two days after one of the largest air strikes since the start of the war. Dozens of attacks in recent weeks have caused repeated power cuts. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Mr Putin has recently admitted hitting critical energy facilities.

In an address on his Telegram channel in New Year’s eve, Zelensky said those who carried out Saturday’s attacks were inhuman. Switching from Ukrainian to Russian, he then attacked Putin.

President Zelensky spoke in Russian to tell people that the picture President Putin painted was not correct

“Your leader wants to show you that he’s leading from the front, and his military is behind him. But in fact he is hiding. He’s hiding behind his military, his missiles, the walls of his residences and palaces.

“He’s hiding behind you, and he’s burning your country and your future. No-one will forgive you for terror. No-one in the world will forgive you for that. Ukraine will not forgive,” Zelensky stressed.

Zelensky later gave a new year’s address to the Ukrainian people, thanking them for their incredible efforts in repelling Russian advances. “We fight as one team – the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all. I want to thank every invincible region of Ukraine,” he said.

Putin also issued a new year address which was broadcast for each of Russia’s 11 time zones as they saw in 2023. The Russian leader tried to rally people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying the country’s future was at stake.

In combative mood, Mr Putin said: “We always knew, and today it is confirmed to us yet again, that a sovereign, independent and secure future for Russia depends only on us, on our strength and will.”

He presented the invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory as “defending our people and our historical lands and said moral, historical rightness is on our side.” 

Putin also accused the West of provoking Moscow to launch its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. “The West lied about peace. It was preparing for aggression… and now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia,” he said.

The Ukrainian government has pleaded with Western leaders to provide it with additional air defences, and US President Joe Biden recently agreed to supply its Patriot system.

The Kremlin rejected Ukraine’s suggestion that peace talks could begin in 2023.